Q:
We're just a bit past halfway in the 2008 season. What are your thoughts
on the competition this far?

ROBIN PEMBERTON:
Well, I think we can get to that. But I think the first and
foremost it's probably on everybody's mind right now is what went on with
the tire situation this past weekend at Indianapolis.

I'd like to just, you know, get out in front of that and, you know, let
everybody know that we're going to work on it. We've had a call with
Goodyear this morning, talked to Joie Chitwood this morning about some
things.

You know, I can't say enough how sorry we are, and you know, it's our
responsibility being NASCAR that we don't go through this situation again.
We've already got after it, and we're moving forward with a plan to get
ahead of the situation so we don't go through this again.

Once again, you know, I think it deserves to be said that the race didn't
come off like we had hoped. The fans didn't get what they exactly wanted,
and we'll do everything in our power and it won't happen again, I can tell
you that much. So we're going to put a lot of effort towards it and get a
better plan moving forward.

I just want to let everybody know and get ahead of that and try to put this
behind us and we'll work hard, all us that are involved at Indianapolis -
from the tire manufacturer to NASCAR, to Indianapolis Motor Speedway. That
being said, let's get on with the rest of the show.

DENISE MALOOF:
Questions for Robin Pemberton.

Q:
I was wondering with the Brickyard issues, obviously, does that help the
cause for NASCAR to take some more responsibility in testing the new car and
testing the tire? I know there had been some talk previously about forming
an official Goodyear tire test team?

ROBIN PEMBERTON:
You know, that's been something that's been done in the
past, a Goodyear tire testing. But one of the things that we have learned,
we need to test the current cars, the cars with the current engines, the
best horsepower, and you need to test with the best drivers that you can.

So having substitute drivers, I know it's been kicked around, but I think
the examples are Darlington where we had Jeff Gordon, we had Greg Biffle and
Ryan Newman there to conduct a test. They did a great job, and we got good
information. We came out of Darlington with a great tire.

So we probably need to do a better job at testing different racetracks
obviously, offer different challenges with their services. Indianapolis
probably gave us the most trouble we've seen in recent history.

Nothing wrong with the service, we've just got to do a better job with
testing and come out of there with a better position on our tires.

Q:
Is it the high center of gravity and the roll or the decrease in
downforce that's putting so much stress on these right side tires? And also
knowing that you had an unknown quantity with the new car and the entire
package this year, why didn't you go into this year and allow more testing
on track-specific testing?

ROBIN PEMBERTON:
We followed suit with last year's test policy. As you know,
we allow the teams to pick as a group where they thought they needed to go
test.

This car does have a little higher center of gravity. The track is a little
bit wider. That does help make up for that with a lot of the safety features
on this car, this car winds up having more of an even balance of weight from
left to right, which, therefore, does load the right side tires a little bit
more.

So taking the things that we have learned this year with our test policy and
things of that nature, I'm sure -- and I'll tell you now, we're taking a good
look at it. We're probably in the 80% range on our test policy for next
year.

We look at giving the teams more of an opportunity to test at places that
they feel like they need the most help. So you won't see the big test that
we've had in the last two or three years that we go and conduct and manage.
It will be more of a team-specific type outing with the proper tires from
Goodyear.

So that moving forward, moving forward will probably, I can almost guarantee
that almost every track next year will have some sort of activity with a
private test leading up to the race at some point in time.

Q:
How much are the teams changing their set ups as they learn about the Car
of Tomorrow? And how is that impacting the tires? In other words, if you
tested in April at Indianapolis, are all the set-ups now totally different?

ROBIN PEMBERTON:
Yeah, I think that's a very fair question. You look in the
past, and we've all said it, you know, we were on a 25-year history with
basically the same chassis and body style. The car evolved, and as
competition drives the car, the teams take and they perfect it and they get
their advantages.

So I think the change in car from a team's perspective is probably, there's
probably greater changes in shorter periods of time with this new car.

We haven't been to every racetrack yet. It was obviously the first time at
Indianapolis. We've got Kansas City coming up. So I think if you couldn't
take last year's set-ups and run them this year, I think the teams have
evolved that much.

You know, we are forced and we'll have to do a better job at staying ahead
of the curve on some of these issues as it comes to the teams and the tires
and things like that. So to answer the question in short, I think six months
is an eternity on car improvement from the team's side.

Q:
I just want to get your reaction to Tony George's comments that this is
NASCAR's problem not Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the track won't be
changed for next year if you guys want to come back.

ROBIN PEMBERTON:
Well, I didn't get a chance to see that comment. It's
obvious that we don't go there with the right car/tire combination. We raced
them on that surface the last four years and realized we wouldn't ask them
to change that surface. We've got to do a better job.

I didn't read Tony's comments. A few of the people have told me what they
were. You know, we haven't asked the Speedway to make any such changes.
We're just going to move forward and do a better job leading into the race
when we get there next year.

Q:
My question is that fans called in and said why not drag tires around the
track? They would have been up all night if you could run cars around the
track. Is there anything you could do overnight or could have done to get
the track to come in and rubber in and still not have had a problem?

ROBIN PEMBERTON:
I think when you look back on the weekend, you know,
Goodyear followed suit on their tire test in April like they have those past
two or three years. And we know that it takes the track a while to rubber
in.

You know, our best guess at it or Goodyear's best guest is it is going to
take the same path that it did in previous years. It looks like it was
headed in that direction on Friday. Friday was not much different than past
Fridays at Indianapolis.

But Saturday it didn't rubber in, and we were left with tires that only
lasted ten laps. Now the fans that wrote in and said why didn't you drag
tires? We didn't realize until race time that the track wasn't going to be
in tip-top shape at lap 40 like it was a year ago.

At the end of the day, you look at it, and we ran a 400 mile race there with
43 competitors and at the end of 400 miles, the track wasn't even rubbered
in.

I don't think there's anything we could have done given the circumstances
that could have gotten us over the hump and gotten the track rubbered in. It
never did all day on Sunday.

Q:
Do you think it's too late to adjust the schedule for the year? You
mentioned Kansas, could you schedule some type of a test at Kansas before
that race?

ROBIN PEMBERTON:
When you look at the racetracks, there's a lot of them that
are very similar, you know. Chicago, we just had a great race there. We've
had the race at Charlotte and Atlanta.

So I think when we move forward, we've got one more test left that would be
at Charlotte before the end of the year. So I think we should be in good
shape as far as the testing goes.

We have added a test this year. We added the spring Charlotte event in hopes
that that was going to help all of our mile-and-a-half to almost two-mile
racetrack. So next year will be a different set of circumstances, and the
test policy will be a little more wide open where teams can hit the places
they need to hit. But right now we're not going to change where we're at.

Q:
I wanted to ask there has been some talk about Goodyear possibly making a
radical change to the wider tire. So is that possible without changing the
car and the body of the car? I mean having a much larger tire made forcing a
change in the car?

ROBIN PEMBERTON:
I'm going to answer that the best I can, your phone was
breaking up. We had a bad connection there. We're working with Goodyear. As
far as evaluating a wider tire, a tire that is a larger circumference that
allows it to have a larger volume of air in there and helps its durability.
I think part of your question was about the tire width and size versus the
body. I think I got that out of it.

If we come to a place that Goodyear needs to be to help the performance help
the tires and help the feel as far as the body goes, and the sheet metal,
those type of things can be changed in a matter of days or weeks or months
with proper planning.

We're looking at some different things with Goodyear. You know, we'll follow
their lead on what they need to help the performance and durability of the
tires.